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Italy: Day Four

Last night, I could not sleep. So I stayed up until like 1 a.m. local time playing Draw Something with a bunch of different people. I cannot believe how hilarious this game is. Love it.
When I finally dragged my over tired ass out of bed this morning, it was after 8. Oops!! Got myself together, joined my lovely mum and sister in the breakfast room, and AGAIN... No chocolate cake. Pffft.
After we ate, we took at taxi over to the Coliseum and Roman Forum and did more of the tourista thing. The Coliseum really is pretty amazing. Huge. Impressive. Beautiful. We walked around it and took lots of photos, despite some rain. Then we zigged over to the Forum entrance, and wandered around there for well over an hour. After we'd had enough ruins for a minute, it was down past the Monumento Vittorio Emanuele II, which the locals hate. Across the street from it, we saw an amazing little man on the sidewalk carving gigantic carrots into incredible little sculptures of dragons, koi, and palm trees. Too cool! We grabbed pizza and "insulata mista" (salad made up of lettuce, arugula, carrots, tomato and CORN!) at a little outdoor restaurant, and then wandered up the Via del Corso window shopping our way back to the hotel for a quick break before walking toward the other part of town to make out reservations for the Borghese Gallery. This was one place I decided we needed to go as sort of an homage to a friend I made through this blog, Gale. She told me going there to see Bernini's "Apollo and Daphne" was on her life list. After how amazingly supportive she's been during his crazy adventure I've been on since November, it felt like a tiny gesture, but one I am SO GLAD we made. The sculpture was nothing short of breathtaking. The rest of the museum was fine... Your run of the mill yawn-inducing art museum. But this sculpture made it worth the trek! No doubt!
Roaming around the Villa Borghese grounds afterwards, mum was getting tired, so she left Wendy and I on our own and went back to the hotel to rest up for tomorrow. My dear sister and I meandered through the Villa Borghese and eventually found our way back to the Piazza del Popolo, where mum and I walked to from the hotel our first day here. We walked back up a different section of the Via del Corso again, and I bought myself the obligatory Italian scarf. After getting caught in the rain once more, Wendy and I made it back to a small outdoor cafe near our hotel for some wine. Two glasses of Shiraz, a chocolate souffle, and a pile of pistachios later, we threw in the towel and came back to the room for the night. I am exhausted!!!
Need to get my rest, tonight, too, because tomorrow is our tour of the Vatican and all that jazz. Seeing Michelangelo's Pieta is on MY life list, so I could not be more excited. I predict I cry...
And with that, I am off. I have the friggin hiccups right now and need to go concentrate on making them go away...
Xxo, Phoebe

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